NEWS: Congressman hints at mandatory ID - Computerworld 01/15/07

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Congressman hints at mandatory ID

 

Computerworld.com

Jan 15, 2007

 

 

Farmers Fear Livestock ID Mandate:

Tracking animals with RFID could prove pricey, they say

 

By Marc L. Songini

 

January 15, 2007 (Computerworld) Independent livestock ranchers last

week were quick to criticize signals that the new Congress may soon

mandate implementation of the RFID-based National Animal Identification

System.

 

Signing on to the NAIS program has been voluntary since it was first

proposed in 2003, but Rep. Collin Peterson (D-Minn.), the new chairman

of the House Agriculture Committee, said last week that he may soon push

for the program to become mandatory.

 

[Photo of cow with ear-tag: "Tagging livestock is costly and

challenging, according to farmers."]

 

"The voluntary approach is a good steppingstone in the process of

achieving a functioning animal ID system," Peterson said. "But full

participation may ultimately be necessary in order to ensure that we

have a system that meets the needs of livestock producers and the

public."

 

The farmers and ranchers, and the industry groups that represent them,

contend that a mandatory NAIS program would impose unnecessary costs and

technical challenges on their businesses.

 

NAIS calls for using technology to tag and track cattle and other

livestock from birth to the slaughterhouse. No technology has yet been

chosen for the effort, though analysts expect that most farmers would

use radio frequency identification tags.

 

The program aims to track animals through the supply chain to help

health officials find the source of meat-borne diseases such as bovine

spongiform encephalopathy, also known as mad cow disease.

 

Officials at the U.S. Department of Agriculture, which oversees the

program, last week insisted that participation in NAIS will remain

voluntary and that the agency won't limit participants to using a

specific technology.

 

But Peterson argued that the effort has yet to see much success and

needs a boost.

 

"USDA's success in implementing the NAIS to date has been limited at

best," Peterson said. "Nearly $100 million has been spent to establish

the system, and yet we still do not have a functioning system. Many

other countries, including Canada and Australia, established functioning

programs at a lower cost than we have already spent."

 

Frank Albani, president of the Northeast Organic Farming Association of

Massachusetts, an organization based in Barre, Mass., that counts 900

small farmers among its members, argued that NAIS will benefit only RFID

gear vendors and large meat producers and retailers while hurting small

farmers. "They have [tracking] systems in place in Ireland and

Australia, and they cost an exorbitant amount of money," Albani said.

 

Large agribusinesses have already installed systems to track animals or

meat that is shipped cross-country or internationally, he noted. On the

other hand, smaller farmers generally sell their wares locally, so such

a program isn't needed for them, Albani said.

 

'Points of Failure'

 

Karin Bergener, founder of the Hollow Rock, Tenn.-based Liberty Ark

Coalition, said that the exact cost of using RFID chips on animals

remains undetermined. However, she said that her group, which was

established to fight NAIS, has estimated that costs in countries such as

the U.K. and Australia can run as high as $69 per head of cattle, a

total that could erase the profit margin for some species.

 

She also noted that "the points of failure involved with such a database

are almost impossible to count." Bergener also raised privacy concerns,

contending that the technology could also be used to track animal

owners.

 

Pushback from producers prompted the USDA in November not to switch from

a voluntary program to a mandatory one, an agency spokesman said. At the

time, the USDA also shifted technical and implementation responsibility

to state governments. "We believe the best program respects states'

rights," he said. "It's up to the states [to determine] if they want to

make it mandatory."

 

So far, only Michigan has moved to require mandatory compliance with the

rules. All cattle in that state must have RFID tags by March 2007.

 

The USDA spokesman noted that the department has spent about $84 million

thus far to implement NAIS.

 

Meanwhile, Peterson is calling on his colleagues in Congress to seek

ways of making NAIS implementation cheap, efficient, secure and

mandatory. No timeline has been set to discuss his proposal.